


Welcome To Old Black

by notquiteintoxicated



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2018-10-18 03:27:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10608342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notquiteintoxicated/pseuds/notquiteintoxicated
Summary: Contrary to what his co-workers might say, Kageyama doesn’t actually have a crush on that one arrogant customer who dissed their shop’s amazing coffee.Or,That obligatory Coffee Shop AU that nobody asked for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this a whiiiiiiiile back but forgot about it haha :P
> 
> I edited this while running on caffeine at 3am so please excuse any mistakes I missed. I'll come back to it later.

It was no great secret to the employees of The Old Black that their establishment wasn’t very popular. After all, theirs was a quaint little place trying to compete against the big Starbucks right around the corner and they accepted that they weren’t really the go-to coffee shop for most people. However, if there was one thing that they refused to concede to the corporate coffee behemoth, it was the fact that their amazing and painstakingly prepared coffee could definitely give Starbucks a run for their money and their handful of very loyal regulars could attest to that.

Among the staff of Old Black, the one who took the greatest pride in the quality of their coffee was Kageyama, which was why he was unable to stop himself from reacting when he heard one of their customers’ unjust criticisms of Old Black’s coffee while he was clearing the table next to them.

Kageyama abruptly stopped what he was doing and turned to look at the offender, a blonde guy wearing glasses. He figured he might be a little biased in his opinion but Glasses Jerk (as Kageyama decided to call the customer in his head) looked exactly like those pretentious little snobs who thought they were more cultured than everyone else combined. “Care to repeat what you just said about our coffee?”

Glasses Jerk stopped talking to his friend and looked at Kageyama. “I didn’t realize eavesdropping was a hobby among employees here.”

“You said it loud enough for me to hear it. You did that on purpose.”

“Not as stupid as you look, huh?” Glasses Jerk said with a grin, “Okay, I’ll say it again. For a place that has the audacity to call itself _The Old Black_ , the black coffee here sure does suck.”

“How dare you. That’s the first time I’m hearing those words used to describe our coffee.”

Glasses Jerk turned around in his seat so that he was fully facing Kageyama. He crossed his legs, rested his right elbow on the table and cupped his cheek. He looked like the very definition of ‘smug.’ “Oh? You must have heard even more terrible words then. I guess I was actually being nice.”

Kageyama felt a strong urge to punch something – preferably Glasses Jerk – and would have given into it too, if he didn’t fear the inevitable wrath of Manager Sawamura if he did punch a paying customer (no matter how much of an asshole said customer was).

_Calm down, self. Think happy thoughts. Like that bastard Oikawa falling flat on his face._

That seemed to do the trick.

Considerably more level-headed than before, Kageyama walked closer to Glasses Jerk’s table. Kageyama noticed Glasses Jerk’s friend flinch from the corner of his eye, probably thinking that he was planning to do something violent. Kageyama couldn’t exactly blame the guy. He _had_ been contemplating that just seconds ago.

“Not to be arrogant but I’ve only ever heard good things being said about our coffee,” Kageyama said, “If it really does taste as bad as you say then I’m sure there must have been a mistake. Do you mind if I taste it?”

Glasses Jerk looked a bit taken aback by that but quickly regained his haughty expression. He pushed his cup towards Kageyama. “Sure. Be my guest.”

Kageyama had only taken the smallest of tentative sips when he had to set the cup back down almost violently. Whatever he had to say about the coffee must have shown on his face because he noticed Glasses Jerk looking triumphant. Honestly, the thought of having to apologize to Glasses Jerk didn’t sit too well with Kageyama, but that cup of coffee was _so bad_ he felt like crying. “I’m sorry,” he forced out, “our coffee doesn’t normally taste like that. If you don’t mind waiting I can prepare you another cup.”

Kageyama had never been more humiliated in his life. He was going to kill whoever made that cup of coffee and he had a pretty good idea who it was.

“No, I think I’ll pass on that offer for now. Seeing your reaction when you tasted that disgusting sludge after bragging about this place’s coffee was enough to appease me.” Glasses Jerk said with another self-satisfied grin. With that, he stood up from his seat and walked out of the coffee shop, his friend right behind him.

# 

“You dumbass!” were the first words out of Kageyama’s mouth when he finally found Hinata hanging out at the back of the shop with Nishinoya.

“What did I do now?” Hinata asked. He looked like a cornered little puppy.

“It’s your fault I got humiliated back there! You know you’re not allowed to make coffee for customers!”

“I-I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

“One of the customers complained about his coffee. I confidently argued against him because I _know_ we make good coffee but I made a fool of myself when I tasted it because it tasted like a boiled muddy leather shoe! Only you could have made that!”

Kageyama was almost fuming with anger and Nishinoya took it upon himself to placate the situation. “Kageyama, don’t you think that’s a little too much?”

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you tasted it.”

“You can’t expect Hinata to be as good as you or Suga right away. He’s still learning.”

“Exactly! He’s still learning so he’s not yet allowed to make coffee for customers! And I’m not actually mad about the disgusting coffee he made.” Kageyama paused to consider. “Okay, maybe I’m a little mad about that, _but_ my real problem here is he made coffee for a customer even when he’s not allowed to and potentially ruined our good reputation!”

“I know I’m not good enough yet!” Hinata said, “I’m telling you I didn’t make coffee for any customer!”

Kageyama wasn’t entirely convinced. “Is that true? You didn’t make coffee for the tall blonde guy with the glasses?”

“No. I haven’t even _seen_ that guy. I’ve been in the stockroom with Noya this entire time. We were doing inventory.”

Kageyama looked to Nishinoya for confirmation and the latter just nodded. It wasn’t in Nishinoya’s nature to lie, even if it meant protecting Hinata, so that basically cleared Hinata’s name – which meant there was only one suspect left.

Nishinoya echoed Kageyama’s thoughts perfectly. “It was probably Ryu.”

With the exception of Hinata, everyone in Old Black made a mean cup of coffee, but Kageyama wouldn’t put it past Tanaka to make an exceptionally horrendous one if the customer who asked for it pissed him off enough, and considering that the customer in question was Glasses Jerk…

Yeah.

It was definitely Tanaka.

# 

Tanaka’s only response when Kageyama asked about the henceforth dubbed ‘Glasses Jerk Incident’ was that _‘the condescending asshole was definitely asking for it’_ and offered no explanation whatsoever that would justify staining their coffee shop’s pristine reputation.

Even worse, the usual voice of reason, Sugawara, brushed the whole thing off with an _‘it’s one cup of bad coffee, we’re not going to go out of business because of that’_ before leaning into him conspiratorially and whispering, _‘let’s just keep this from Daichi, okay?’_

Even Nishinoya, who was usually the first to stand up and fight for the good of the shop, told Kageyama that _‘it’s fine if Suga said it is, stop over-reacting,’_ and you just know that something was terribly out of place when Nishinoya ‘My Only Modes Are Extreme and More Extreme’ Yuu was the one telling you that you were over-reacting.

At this point, Kageyama was pretty much convinced that everyone in the shop was secretly planning a mutiny against Manager Sawamura’s rule and the first step to their seize of power was ruining Old Black’s reputation with the customers, one cup of disgusting coffee at a time.

Asahi said he was probably thinking things too far but Kageyama wasn’t about to listen to that. Everyone knew that Asahi was always in league with Nishinoya, anyway.

“I wonder if he’ll come here again,” Hinata said from his spot at the register, startling Kageyama out of haphazard thoughts.

Hinata and Kageyama were the only ones manning the shop because Sugawara was out buying coffee beans and Manager Sawamura was cooped up inside the office at the back. That day, Asahi, Nishinoya, and Tanaka didn’t need to come in until the evening shift, which meant that Kageyama was stuck with Hinata for company until late in the afternoon. Kageyama didn’t exactly hate it. Hinata was a pretty okay guy – when he wasn’t making terrible coffee.

“Who?” Kageyama asked.

“That glasses guy you were talking about. The one who complained about our coffee.”

“I don’t know, but I kind of hope he does. He didn’t have to be a jerk about it but he actually had every right to complain about the coffee he got. If he comes back I’ll make sure I’m the one who makes his coffee so I can make him realize that our coffee is good.”

Hinata looked pleased at that. “In that case, I hope he comes back too because the coffee you make is really delicious, Kageyama.”

Kageyama swore he didn’t blush at the sudden compliment. “D-dumbass! Don’t say that so casually!”

As though it wanted to save Kageyama from further embarrassment, the chimes by the door suddenly rang, signaling the entrance of a customer – a tall, blonde, and glasses-wearing one, in particular.

“It’s you!” Hinata said as he pointed at Glasses Jerk.

Kageyama fought the urge to slam his head against the counter. Dumbass Hinata.

Glasses Jerk walked over to the counter and gave Hinata a patronizing smile. “Do I know you?”

“Oh, right! Good morning, my name is Hinata! I’ll be taking your order today.” Hinata said cheerfully. Kageyama thought that he was either blissfully naïve and, as such, unable to detect the condescension in Glasses Jerk’s tone, or he just didn’t care.

“So aside from serving terrible coffee, this place also allows elementary school kids to work for them? Wow. I’m surprised you guys are still in business.”

Kageyama could take Hinata being dissed. The bad remarks about their coffee, however, had to stop. “If you think our coffee is so bad, then why did you come back?”

“I decided to be magnanimous today and give you a chance to redeem yourselves.”

Okay, that sealed it. This glasses guy was officially number one on Kageyama’s ‘People I’d Like To Punch The Most’ list.

“I actually felt bad that you were given such disgusting coffee the first time you came here but now I realize that Tanaka was right. You did deserve it because you’re such an asshole,” Kageyama said with a sneer, “but I refuse to let jerks like you unrightfully badmouth our establishment and our coffee so I am going to make you a cup of coffee so good you’d forget your name. You don’t even have to pay for it because I just decided to be _magnanimous_ , you bastard.”

# 

“Are you _sure_ we should be giving away free coffee?” Hinata asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time. Frankly, it was getting on Kageyama’s nerves. “Manager might get angry. You know how he is when he’s angry. It’s very likely that he will demand our firstborn children for it.”

“Shut up, will you? I’m trying to concentrate here!” If Kageyama messed this coffee up because of Hinata’s distraction, _he_ would demand Hinata’s firstborn child for it.

“But Kageyamaaaa…”

“It’s not actually free, okay? We’re not going to make Glasses Jerk right there pay for it but I’ll pay so we’re not going to incur any losses. Just keep quiet. This is for the good of the shop.”

Thankfully, Hinata did shut up after that so Kageyama was able to work in peace. When he was done, he walked over to where Glasses Jerk was sitting and set the cup of coffee down on the table. “Today is the day you eat your words. Enjoy your coffee.” Kageyama said before walking away.

Once he was back at the counter, Kageyama watched intently as Glasses Jerk drank the coffee. Unfortunately, he didn’t register any changes in Glasses Jerk’s expression that might clue him in on whether the other liked the coffee or not.

“Why are you staring at Glasses Jerk?” Hinata asked.

“Lower your voice, he might hear you! I’m looking at his reaction.”

“To the coffee?”

“Of course, dumbass.”

Hinata looked at Glasses Jerk’s poker face. “There isn’t much of a reaction there.”

“Don’t you think I realize that? Anyway, he’s not returning it so he probably likes it.”

“…Maybe.”

“What’s with that pause? And what do you mean ‘maybe?’ You just said earlier that I make delicious coffee, didn’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but that’s _me_ and you said yourself that I can’t even make decent coffee yet. Glasses Jerk looks like someone who knows his coffee.”

“Are you saying my coffee is not good enough for that pretentious jerk?” Kageyama remembered telling Hinata to lower his voice but now he couldn’t help but raise his. He found the implication of Hinata’s statement very irritating.

To his credit, Hinata actually looked alarmed. “I-I didn’t say–oh, look, he’s gone!”

Kageyama turned to look where Glasses Jerk sat and, true enough, the guy has left. He hadn’t even noticed in the midst of his conversation with Hinata. He walked over to Glasses Jerk’s vacated spot and saw, to his annoyance, that the coffee was half-finished.

_Why that arrogant – huh?_

Kageyama didn’t see it earlier but tucked beneath the cup was a small piece of paper and written on it was a note from, he could only assume, Glasses Jerk.

_‘Not bad, but it wasn’t enough to make me forget my name – which is Tsukishima, by the way. I heard you talking to the elementary kid. Stop calling me ‘Glasses Jerk.’ That nickname is both juvenile and pathetic.’_

That Tsukishima guy dared to refer to Kageyama’s coffee as simply, ‘not bad’?

Kageyama crumpled the offending piece of paper. He felt like a fire was lit under him. He was going to make Tsukishima eat those words, if it was the last thing he would ever do.

#

“How many times does that make now?” Hinata asked when Kageyama returned to the counter after retrieving that bastard Tsukishima’s half-finished coffee.

Since that first visit to Old Black two weeks ago, Tsukishima had returned to the shop a total of six times. For those six times, Kageyama had been the one to prepare his coffee. For those six times, he left the coffee half-finished.

It wasn’t like Kageyama had been slacking off, either. He had actually been brushing up on his coffee knowledge and reading about ways to improve the taste of his coffee, but for some reason, that bastard Tsukishima never finished the coffee he made no matter how good it was (at least, in the opinion of everyone else that _wasn’t_ Tsukishima).

This was officially the seventh time Tsukishima didn’t finish Kageyama’s coffee and Kageyama knew that Hinata was aware of that because they always minded the counter together whenever Tsukishima came in.

Kageyama set the cup down and grabbed the top of Hinata’s head. “Are you deliberately trying to rub salt into my wound?”

“O-ow ow ow! I was just asking a question!”

“You were trying to make fun of me, weren’t you?”

“No, Kageyama, stop that! I’ll go bald!”

Hinata struggled under Kageyama’s grip to no avail. Fortunately for him, Nishinoya chose to appear at that moment.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Nishinoya asked.

Kageyama’s hold slackened and Hinata was finally able to break free. He immediately ran towards Nishinoya and hid behind the other’s back. It was quite an amusing sight considering Nishinoya was smaller than Hinata.

“Kageyama’s taking out his frustration on me!” Hinata told Nishinoya, as though he was a child asking his older brother to help him deal with the neighborhood bully.

Nishinoya gave Kageyama a look that was basically seven shades of disappointed. “You seriously need to stop obsessing over that glasses guy, Kageyama.” Unsurprisingly, Nishinoya seemed to have quickly deduced what the real issue was.

“I’m not obsessing over anyone. I’m just… very invested in this particular situation.”

“Is this still about restoring our shop’s reputation? Because I think you’ve already done that. That guy is practically a regular customer now.”

“This no longer about that.” Kageyama said gravely. The thing with Tsukishima stopped being about the shop the moment the latter described his coffee as ‘not bad’ and made a habit of leaving it half-finished. The shop’s name was no longer on the line here but Kageyama’s pride definitely was.

“What?”

“He never finishes his coffee when he comes here. The coffee that _I_ make.” Kageyama adopted a look of rightful indignation. “He said my coffee was ‘not bad’ and I refuse to accept that. I can’t stand having anyone think that my coffee is less than heaven-sent.”

Nishinoya didn’t say anything and just stared long and hard at Kageyama.

Kageyama found the entire thing uncomfortable and slightly creepy. “Noya?”

“Hmm, I see,” Nishinoya said contemplatively, “I understand, Kageyama. Do what you want. Just don’t take it out on Hinata when things don’t go your way.”

“…Uh, okay.”

In all honesty, Kageyama had a nagging feeling that they weren’t quite on the same page, but the creepy staring did stop and Nishinoya said he understood what Kageyama was talking about so, nagging feeling aside, maybe that counted as a win.

# 

By now, Kageyama had gotten familiar with the schedule of Tsukishima’s visits to the shop (it was every other day) so he wasn’t surprised when Tsukishima came in two days after his slightly weird and more than a little uncomfortable conversation with Nishinoya. Hinata and Nishinoya were once again stuck on inventory duty so it was just Tanaka and Kageyama out on the counter.

Tanaka immediately glared at Tsukishima the moment he saw the latter come in. “Hey, shit stain, you make it painfully obvious that you think you’re too good for our shop so why do you keep coming back here, huh?”

Tsukishima actually had the gall to laugh. “Have I been demoted? Last time I heard, I was ‘Glasses Jerk,’ now I’m just ‘Shit Stain?’ I’m not quite sure how I feel about that.”

“You little fuck–”

Tanaka looked about a hair’s breadth away from climbing over the counter and slugging Tsukishima, and even if he didn’t take part in it, Kageyama was pretty sure that he would also be on the receiving end of Manager Sawamura’s anger if he allowed Tanaka to hit any customer on his watch so he deftly stepped in between Tanaka and Tsukishima and took over the register.

“Tanaka, why don’t you let me take care of this one while you check up on Hinata and Nishinoya?” Kageyama said. Tanaka seemed apprehensive and Kageyama sincerely hoped the other would listen to him.

After what seemed like forever to Kageyama, Tanaka finally relented. “Fine, just don’t go giving away free coffee,” he said before disappearing into the store room.

With Tanaka gone, Tsukishima finally turned to Kageyama. “You have a habit of giving away free coffee to customers?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Does that mean I’m special, then? You never make me pay and I worry that it makes me appear ungrateful when I criticize it.”

Kageyama had to marvel at the fact that a guy with such an unpleasant personality would be concerned about appearing ungrateful, but then he remembered that Tsukishima was actually a sarcastic little shit and quickly dismissed the thought. “If that’s the case, then it shouldn’t be a problem if I insist that today’s coffee is free. You wouldn’t have anything critical to say about it, anyway.”

“I’m not so sure about that. You did make my coffee last time I was here and it wasn’t very inspiring, to say the least.”

Manager Sawamura always said that no matter the provocation, as long as the customer wasn’t trying to harm them physically, no employee from Old Black was allowed to hit or otherwise hurt any customer. Kageyama desperately tried to live by that rule, mostly because an angry Manager Sawamura was really scary and he didn’t want a repeat of the Coffee Bean Incident because even the memory of it made his blood run cold.

Kageyama reminded himself that punching Tsukishima right in the teeth was not a very good idea no matter how tempting it seemed. He took a deep breath and imagined Oikawa falling down a flight of stairs. That almost always calmed him down instantly. “I’ll leave any judgments about my coffee after I’ve tasted it, if I were you,” he said, “Go find somewhere to sit and I’ll bring it to you when it’s done, _sir_.”

# 

A rather large group of customers came in shortly after Kageyama served Tsukishima’s coffee so he wasn’t able to watch closely for the other’s reaction.

By the time Kageyama finished serving all the other customers and Tanaka had returned from the storeroom, Tsukishima was already nowhere to be seen, which either meant that Tsukishima drank coffee unbelievably fast or that he didn’t finish his coffee like last time.

Fearing for the worst, Kageyama rushed over to where Tsukishima had sat and, once again, was greeted with a half-finished cup of coffee on the table. He valiantly resisted the urge to hurl the cup across the room because Manager Sawamura would have his hide for destroying Old Black property and sulkily walked back to the counter.

“What happened?” Tanaka asked when Kageyama returned.

“Tsukishima didn’t finish the coffee I made. _Again_.” This was the eighth time that this happened and Kageyama was more than a little annoyed.

“Who?”

Right. Kageyama almost forgot that Tsukishima was still known among his co-workers as ‘Glasses Jerk’ (and rightfully so). “Glasses Jerk. His name’s Tsukishima.”

Tanaka’s eyes widened with incredulity. “You know Glasses Jerk’s name?”

“Yeah, he told me before. _Wrote_ it, actually. He left it in a note.”

“He’s been leaving you notes?” If Tanaka opened his eyes any wider, they would probably fall right out of their sockets.

“It happened once. Please don’t make it sound like a regular thing.” Kageyama said in defense, which Tanaka conveniently ignored.

“I can’t believe it! Hinata’s right for once!”

“What? What’s going on? What am I right about?” Hinata suddenly asked. He could have chosen an entirely different time to come back from the store room with Nishinoya, but no, he chose to come back right at that moment so he may add to Kageyama’s misery. Kageyama decided then and there that the instances where people arrived at the exact moment when they were the topic of conversation were truly terrifying.

“Kageyama has been exchanging love notes with Glasses Jerk!” Tanaka exclaimed, quickly followed by an excited chorus of ‘I knew it!’ from Hinata and Nishinoya.

 “Wait a minute. That’s not what–”

A slap on the back courtesy of Nishinoya cut Kageyama off. Nishinoya was a small guy but he packed a wallop and Kageyama was left sputtering for air. “Good job, Kageyama! I was beginning to think you weren’t going to act on your little crush on that customer!”

“Huh, what? When did I ever–”

“No need to be shy, Kageyama,” Nishinoya said, “Just follow your heart! We’re all behind you!”

Tanaka quickly disagreed. “Uh, nope. Don’t include me, Noya. I don’t like that Glasses Jerk and I think Kageyama could do way better than him.”

“But we don’t actually know him,” Came Hinata’s voice, “He’s probably not that bad if Kageyama likes him.”

“Have you even met that jerk, Hinata? It’s easier to believe that Kageyama has shitty taste in guys than to believe that Glasses Jerk has any redeeming qualities.”

“Hinata’s right, Ryu! We don’t know this Glasses Guy! I bet you’d change your mind once we get to know him!” At this, Nishinoya turned to Kageyama. “Why don’t you invite him to join us for movie night, Kageyama?”

Before Kageyama could even answer, Tanaka butted in. “That’s a great idea,” he said with a rather sinister smile, “Kageyama, you have to bring Glasses Jerk to movie night next Saturday. If you don’t you’ll wear a nametag that says ‘Chicken’ and clean the toilets for a month.”

Kageyama stared at Tanaka with utter horror. He kind of lost track of the conversation somewhere between ‘follow your heart’ and ‘shitty taste in guys’ so he wasn’t entirely sure how things progressed to this. He was convinced his brain stopped working, though, which rendered him incapable of coming up with a response that would accurately capture how horrifying Nishinoya’s (and, by extension, Tanaka’s) idea was.

Kageyama looked to Hinata for some help, some backup, whatever to get him out of this pinch, but the dumbass only stared back at him with a goofy smile and Kageyama knew he was a goner. He must have been a terrible person in his past life – perhaps an evil tyrannical king – and this was his punishment for all his misdeeds.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have neglected this for a looooong time, I know. So, here's a little update. Just to let you guys know that I have not forgotten this. It's just been put on the back-burner for the time being.

The sight Kageyama was greeted with when he reported for the morning shift that day was something he never expected to see in cozy little Old Black.

He was running late so he used the back entrance to their shop and it wasn’t until he was at the counter when he realized that for once, there was an actual line of people waiting to order – one long enough to leave at least seven or eight people standing in line outside the door – and an equally long line of people standing on the other side of the counter, waiting for their orders to be served.

The normally empty tables were also fully occupied – all six of them – by what appeared to be college students in various states of sleep-deprivation and stress, some of them typing furiously at their laptops while glaring at the screens as though their laptops committed a personal affront against them, while others had their nose buried in books that would probably make decent door-stoppers.

“What’s going on?” Kageyama asked no one in particular. All of his co-workers looked too busy to be disturbed so he settled for just throwing his question in the air, to be answered by anyone who could afford the distraction.

“There was an accident at the Starbucks around the corner so they’re closing it for a few days, just in time for the start of Hell Week. We’re drowning in orders so make yourself useful and start making coffee.” It was Manager Sawamura who answered. He normally stayed at the office during work hours but with the sudden influx of customers, even he had to step in and help out at the counter.

It was just Kageyama’s luck that things would get hectic at Old Black on the day of Tsukishima’s last visit to the shop before the scheduled movie night. To be fair, he actually had a week to ask Tsukishima but he had been putting it off because he couldn’t come up with a way to do it. As it was, he was only delaying the inevitable and now, he might not even get a chance to actually ask Tsukishima because the shop was so busy. It seems as though whatever karmic law existed in the universe was really out to get him.

Taking another precursory glance at the state of the shop, Kageyama assumed his spot at the barista station and went to work.

Despite the relative chaos inside the coffee shop and the semi-zombified state of some of their customers, the employees of Old Black were faring quite well. Hinata was taking orders (he still couldn’t be trusted with making coffee for human consumption) while Kageyama, Tanaka, Nishinoya, and Manager Sawamura made the coffee.

The five of them worked together like an efficient, well-oiled machine that before they even noticed, the morning rush had ended and the last wave of customers had left.

Finally allowed a moment to breathe, Kageyama glanced at the clock.

It was quarter past nine.

Tsukishima always came by the shop at 9 a.m. sharp.

“Shit,” Kageyama cursed under his breath, “Hinata, did Tsukishima come in today?”

“Yeah, he did at 9 o’clock. Right on the dot, as always.”

“How long has it been since he left?”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” Hinata paused to think, “About five or seven minutes ago, I guess? He just took his coffee to go because–”

Kageyama didn’t stay to hear the rest of what Hinata had to say and hurriedly dashed off to the door. He could hear Manager Sawamura shouting behind him, something along the lines of _‘where do you think you’re going?’_ but he decided he would just apologize to the manager later. Maybe even grovel on his knees for good measure.

For now, he had a glasses jerk to catch.

# 

Kageyama had every intention to go running after Tsukishima but once he was out on the street, he realized that he didn’t actually have any idea which way Tsukishima went after leaving the shop.

Hazarding a guess, Kageyama chose to turn right and started running while keeping a lookout for blond hair. Tsukishima was a tall guy so he shouldn’t be that hard to spot. If anything, his head would definitely stick out from the crowd, provided that Kageyama was running in the right direction, of course. Lady Luck seemed to be offering Kageyama a truce, though, because just then, he caught a flash of blond hair sticking out from the sea of average-height people.

“Wait, Tsukishima!” Kageyama called out.

Tsukishima paused and turned around to see who was calling after him. Kageyama saw the brief flash of surprise on Tsukishima’s face when he saw Kageyama before quickly turning back around and doubling up his pace.

“What the – Tsukishima, you bastard! I said wait, damn it!”

Kageyama broke out into a full-on sprint to catch up with Tsukishima (thank heavens for his daily morning races with Hinata). When he finally did, he grabbed onto Tsukishima’s arm to prevent the latter from getting further away. “Hah… I need to… talk to you…”

Tsukishima forcefully jerked his arm free from Kageyama’s grasp. “About what? Surely, it isn’t important enough to warrant shouting my name in the middle of the street and running after me like a mad man.”

Kageyama flinched. So maybe, _just_ maybe, he didn’t quite think this through. How was he supposed to ask Tsukishima to movie night again? “Do you have p-plans this weekend?”

“What?”

“Uhm…” Kageyama gathered his resolve. “The guys at Old Black and I have movie night once a month, and you’re, uh… you’re invited to the one this Saturday.”

Tsukishima looked amused. “Are you asking me out?”

“What? No!” Kageyama paused. “Uhm, kind of? But not like _that_. It’s… a misunderstanding.”

Tsukishima made a show of looking at his watch. “Well, you might want to explain that misunderstanding quickly because I don’t really have time for this.”

“Fine!” Kageyama threw his hands up in mock surrender. “It’s a dare, okay? My co-workers think I have a thing for you or something and I’m going to clean the toilets for a month if I don’t bring you to movie night this weekend!”

Tsukishima grinned. “I see. Okay, I’ll go.”

Kageyama had hoped that, by some miracle, he would be able to get Tsukishima to agree to his invitation, but never in his wildest dreams did he actually _expect_ it to happen – and so easily, at that. “Did you just agree to go to movie night with me?”

“I admit, knowing you’ll be cleaning toilets for a month if I say ‘no’ has its merits, but that wouldn’t be as fun as watching you squirm in front of your co-workers who think you have a crush on me. I wouldn’t miss that kind of entertainment.”

It might just be Kageyama’s imagination but he was quite positive that he saw a mischievous glint in Tsukishima’s eyes. He didn’t know why but he felt as though he just signed a contract with the devil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said this work is going to be 2-3 chapters long? I take that back. This will probably be longer than 3 chapters because I have no self-control. Updates are still hella slow though because the main thing I'm working on right now is the Changes universe. Sorry about that.


End file.
